Cary, NC — The Revenant tells the true story of Hugh Glass, a tracker in the 1820’s who gets viciously attacked by a bear and left for dead by his partners, only to survive and seek revenge on those who abandoned him.

The Revenant

Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman) and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, The Revenant is a beautifully-made film with gorgeous cinematography but is also harsh in the extreme and might be too intense for some.

Leo & Hardy Are Fantastic

Much has been made of the harsh production of the film, and of all the terrible things star DiCaprio had to go through for his performance, but none of it really matters if it doesn’t come together onscreen.

Of course, DiCaprio is an excellent actor and comes through in every way. Glass is a man bound for vengeance, and Leo has the anger and determination seeping out of his body.

But, for me, Tom Hardy is the MVP here. Hardy is the one who makes the call to leave DiCaprio for dead, as well as a few other atrocities, and, like the environment they’re tracking in, he is just cold, cold, cold.

Hardy has very quickly become one of my favorite working actors, thanks to roles in Mad Max: Fury Road, Bronson, Locke, Inception and The Dark Knight Rises. His performance here is no exception.

Gorgeously Shot

The other MVP of the film is the camera work. The film used natural light is almost every scene, and it is just spectacular. Director Inarritu also uses long takes to immerse us in the hellish landscape that our characters are going through. At the very least, this is one of the most impressively made films of 2015.

Brutal But Well-Worth Seeing

The Revenant is an incredible film filled with two great leading performances, and, on the technical side, it is a truly astonishing feat. The film is brutal, though – violent and harsh almost constantly – and, with a runtime of 2.5, hours it might be too much for some. But, if you can stomach it, The Revenant is well worth seeing on the big screen.